The US’s Federal Aviation Administration has announced it will follow the European Union and relax its airport slot rules, which have led to the phenomenon of empty “ghost flights”.
However, in a strongly-worded statement, the FAA also said they would cancel the waiver if foreign authorities and airports didn’t follow suit to help US airlines abroad.
Current laws mean airlines must operate 80 per cent of their allocated slots or face losing the right to it for the next season. However, with coronavirus damaging demand, airlines are flying low capacity aircraft to avoid losing their berth in future.
I’m on a ghost ship! My flight to Japan today is EMPTY Paranoia Central!! I have my mask my wipes and I’m washing my hands a lot headed to work cuz I gotta kid to support #notavictim pic.twitter.com/5Alb6tSjcL
— Stevie Salas (@StevieSalas) March 9, 2020
This waiver slot usage requirement applies to John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York LaGuardia Airport, and Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.
The group will also relax its schedule reviews at four other airports, including Chicago O’Hare International Airport, Newark Liberty International Airport, Los Angeles International Airport, and San Francisco International Airport.
Airlines will receive credit for previously-scheduled flights at these airports that were cancelled due to the virus outbreak through 31 May.
The FAA said, “The US Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration is temporarily waiving minimum slot-use requirements at US airports to help airlines that cancel flights due to the coronavirus.
“The FAA expects that US carriers will be accommodated with reciprocal relief by foreign authorities at airports in their countries, and may determine not to grant a waiver to a foreign carrier whose home jurisdiction does not reciprocate.”
The shift comes as airlines are facing additional pressure with many cutting flights around the world due to the decline in passengers as fears of the COVID-19 outbreak grow.
This caused the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to lead calls for the relaxing of slot rules.
As flights have been cut, airlines have still been needing to run so-called ghost flights without passengers in order to keep their slots at key airports, which are prized assets. Usually, airlines need to use their slot 80 per cent of the time to keep it.
This approach has been criticised in the past due to planes flying for no other reason, wasting money and creating emissions, but the issue has only multiplied as airlines struggle to fill planes and cancel flights.
